John Rawls's political liberalism has shaped contemporary political philosophy. Three other theories, feminism, republicanism, and communitarianism, devote a good deal of space to refuting Rawls's theory, and claim to be superior alternatives to it. My main thesis is that they are not alternatives to Rawls's political liberalism but variations of it. That is, although these theories present themselves as external critiques of liberalism, they are ultimately internal critiques, because their own theories are built upon the basic principles of liberalism. This is not to deny that many of their criticisms are well-taken and thus need to be addressed by liberal theorists. I also argue that Rawls's theory of political liberalism is in general terms correct. It needs however to be revised in other to solve what I take to be its main problem: Its lack of a foundation. In my dissertation I propose a revised version of political liberalism, which includes an argument in support of the political liberal conception of justice.

Thesis (M.A.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 1997. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 85-90).

Thesis (M.A.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 1997. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 85-90).

Thesis (M.A.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 1997. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 85-90).

This thesis sets out an interpretation of the value of community that I call communal reciprocity. It charts the history of that ideal, analyses its use in the work of an important academic proponent, G.A. Cohen, and develops a more comprehensive account of its main features. It also discusses the implications of communal reciprocity, including whether or not it conflicts with certain freedom-based concerns and its application, including in the assessment of market economies.

Na pesquisa pedagógica, é comum que a articulação conferida entre filosofia e educação ocorra a partir de pressupostos conceituais amplos, aquilo que convencionou-se chamar de ideal de formação. Nesse sentido, caberia a outras áreas a responsabilidade de investigar temas afeitos à educação escolarizada, tais como o currículo ou avaliação. O objetivo da Tese é problematizar esse pressuposto trabalhando na ideia de uma filosofia que emerja da escola, de uma filosofia conectada. Para tanto, utiliza-se como sustentação teórica a filosofia comunitarista de Michael Walzer. O comunitarismo, enquanto filosofia política, opõe-se ao liberalismo filosófico, pois crê, em oposição a este, que a vida boa deve ser perspectivada em cada contexto específico e a partir da prática cotidiana dos indivíduos. No entanto, a filosofia comunitária não possui um corpo de doutrina unificado e para as pretensões do texto de articular escola e filosofia, utiliza-se a obra de Walzer e seus diversos conceitos no sentido de sustentar a ideia de uma boa escola alicerçada na cidadania democrática, participação e protagonismo das crianças e adolescentes. Defende-se que o comunitarismo de Walzer possui como paradigma o conceito de filosofia prática e nesse sentido todos os demais temas investigados pelo autor, tais como pluralismo, sociedade civil, tolerância, justiça distributiva, comunidade, crítica social e moralidade, estão todos ancorados no ideal de uma filosofia focada no real. Segue-se essa intuição básica, portanto, para a elaboração de vinte proposições que consolidem uma ideia de comunitarismo voltado à educação, ou mais apropriadamente, um comunitarismo voltado à escola, com o propósito de oferecer alternativas a um quadro de desarraigamento comunitário – especialmente urbano – cada vez mais proeminente. / In pedagogic research, it is common for the articulation between philosophy and education to happen from broad conceptual assumptions, which is usually called ideal of education. In this sense, other areas should be given the responsibility of investigating subjects related to school education, such as curriculum or evaluation. This Thesis aims at putting into question that assumption, dealing with the idea of a philosophy arising from school, a connected philosophy. For this, the communitarian philosophy of Michael Walzer is used as a theoretical support. Communitarianism, as a political philosophy, opposes to philosophical liberalism, as it sets that good life should be put into perspective in every specific context, and from one’s everyday practice. However, communitarian philosophy does not have a unified doctrinal body, for attaining the aims of this text (an articulation between the school and philosophy) Walzer’s work was used along with his several concepts to support the idea of a good school based on democratic citizenship, participation and protagonism of children and teenagers. Walzer’s communitarianism is advocated as having as its paradigm the concept of practical philosophy, and in this sense all other subjects explored by the author, such as pluralism, civil society, tolerance, distributive justice, community, social criticism and morality, are all based on the ideal of a realityfocused philosophy. That basic perception is therefore adopted for the formulation of twenty propositions that consolidate an idea of communitarianism as focused on education or – more appropriately – as focused on the school, aiming at offering alternatives to an ever-growing scenario of community detachment (specially urban).

Na pesquisa pedagógica, é comum que a articulação conferida entre filosofia e educação ocorra a partir de pressupostos conceituais amplos, aquilo que convencionou-se chamar de ideal de formação. Nesse sentido, caberia a outras áreas a responsabilidade de investigar temas afeitos à educação escolarizada, tais como o currículo ou avaliação. O objetivo da Tese é problematizar esse pressuposto trabalhando na ideia de uma filosofia que emerja da escola, de uma filosofia conectada. Para tanto, utiliza-se como sustentação teórica a filosofia comunitarista de Michael Walzer. O comunitarismo, enquanto filosofia política, opõe-se ao liberalismo filosófico, pois crê, em oposição a este, que a vida boa deve ser perspectivada em cada contexto específico e a partir da prática cotidiana dos indivíduos. No entanto, a filosofia comunitária não possui um corpo de doutrina unificado e para as pretensões do texto de articular escola e filosofia, utiliza-se a obra de Walzer e seus diversos conceitos no sentido de sustentar a ideia de uma boa escola alicerçada na cidadania democrática, participação e protagonismo das crianças e adolescentes. Defende-se que o comunitarismo de Walzer possui como paradigma o conceito de filosofia prática e nesse sentido todos os demais temas investigados pelo autor, tais como pluralismo, sociedade civil, tolerância, justiça distributiva, comunidade, crítica social e moralidade, estão todos ancorados no ideal de uma filosofia focada no real. Segue-se essa intuição básica, portanto, para a elaboração de vinte proposições que consolidem uma ideia de comunitarismo voltado à educação, ou mais apropriadamente, um comunitarismo voltado à escola, com o propósito de oferecer alternativas a um quadro de desarraigamento comunitário – especialmente urbano – cada vez mais proeminente. / In pedagogic research, it is common for the articulation between philosophy and education to happen from broad conceptual assumptions, which is usually called ideal of education. In this sense, other areas should be given the responsibility of investigating subjects related to school education, such as curriculum or evaluation. This Thesis aims at putting into question that assumption, dealing with the idea of a philosophy arising from school, a connected philosophy. For this, the communitarian philosophy of Michael Walzer is used as a theoretical support. Communitarianism, as a political philosophy, opposes to philosophical liberalism, as it sets that good life should be put into perspective in every specific context, and from one’s everyday practice. However, communitarian philosophy does not have a unified doctrinal body, for attaining the aims of this text (an articulation between the school and philosophy) Walzer’s work was used along with his several concepts to support the idea of a good school based on democratic citizenship, participation and protagonism of children and teenagers. Walzer’s communitarianism is advocated as having as its paradigm the concept of practical philosophy, and in this sense all other subjects explored by the author, such as pluralism, civil society, tolerance, distributive justice, community, social criticism and morality, are all based on the ideal of a realityfocused philosophy. That basic perception is therefore adopted for the formulation of twenty propositions that consolidate an idea of communitarianism as focused on education or – more appropriately – as focused on the school, aiming at offering alternatives to an ever-growing scenario of community detachment (specially urban).

El Enfoque de las Capacidades de Sen se distingue en el terreno de la justicia distributiva porque ha intentado establecer criterios evaluativos que superen el atomismo de las teorías utilitaristas. Pero algunos pensadores críticos han señalado que el Enfoque aún mantiene una impronta individualista que limita su alcance a la hora de implementar políticas públicas tendientes a transformar estructuras injustas. Para estos críticos, los conceptos básicos de Sen deben complementarse con una noción de capacidad colectiva o común, irreductible a términos individuales, que permita dar cuenta de los procesos intersubjetivos del desarrollo de la agencia y de la constitución de la identidad personal. En este artículo se analizarán algunas críticas comunitaristas al Enfoque y se intentará postular un candidato plausible a capacidad colectiva, que respete el núcleo vivo de los comentarios y que mantenga los conceptos de capacidad y de agencia centrales en la teoría de Sen.---Communities of Meaning as Collective Capabilities. A Communitarian Revision of Amartya Sen’s Theory”. Sen’s Capability Approach it is distinguished in the field of the distributive justice, because It has tried to set evaluatives terms that exceed the atomism of the Utilitarian theories. But some critical thinkers have pointed out that the Approach still keep an individualistic style that restrict its impact at the moment of implementing public policies. For these critics, Sen’s basic concepts must be complemented with the idea of collective capability, irreducible to indivudual terms, that allows to account to the intersubjective process of agency and the personal identity constitution. This paper will attempt to present a plausible candidate to the collective capability, that respects the live core of the communitarian comments and that keeps the capability and agency concepts, which are fundamental in Sen’s theory.

Na pesquisa pedagógica, é comum que a articulação conferida entre filosofia e educação ocorra a partir de pressupostos conceituais amplos, aquilo que convencionou-se chamar de ideal de formação. Nesse sentido, caberia a outras áreas a responsabilidade de investigar temas afeitos à educação escolarizada, tais como o currículo ou avaliação. O objetivo da Tese é problematizar esse pressuposto trabalhando na ideia de uma filosofia que emerja da escola, de uma filosofia conectada. Para tanto, utiliza-se como sustentação teórica a filosofia comunitarista de Michael Walzer. O comunitarismo, enquanto filosofia política, opõe-se ao liberalismo filosófico, pois crê, em oposição a este, que a vida boa deve ser perspectivada em cada contexto específico e a partir da prática cotidiana dos indivíduos. No entanto, a filosofia comunitária não possui um corpo de doutrina unificado e para as pretensões do texto de articular escola e filosofia, utiliza-se a obra de Walzer e seus diversos conceitos no sentido de sustentar a ideia de uma boa escola alicerçada na cidadania democrática, participação e protagonismo das crianças e adolescentes. Defende-se que o comunitarismo de Walzer possui como paradigma o conceito de filosofia prática e nesse sentido todos os demais temas investigados pelo autor, tais como pluralismo, sociedade civil, tolerância, justiça distributiva, comunidade, crítica social e moralidade, estão todos ancorados no ideal de uma filosofia focada no real. Segue-se essa intuição básica, portanto, para a elaboração de vinte proposições que consolidem uma ideia de comunitarismo voltado à educação, ou mais apropriadamente, um comunitarismo voltado à escola, com o propósito de oferecer alternativas a um quadro de desarraigamento comunitário – especialmente urbano – cada vez mais proeminente. / In pedagogic research, it is common for the articulation between philosophy and education to happen from broad conceptual assumptions, which is usually called ideal of education. In this sense, other areas should be given the responsibility of investigating subjects related to school education, such as curriculum or evaluation. This Thesis aims at putting into question that assumption, dealing with the idea of a philosophy arising from school, a connected philosophy. For this, the communitarian philosophy of Michael Walzer is used as a theoretical support. Communitarianism, as a political philosophy, opposes to philosophical liberalism, as it sets that good life should be put into perspective in every specific context, and from one’s everyday practice. However, communitarian philosophy does not have a unified doctrinal body, for attaining the aims of this text (an articulation between the school and philosophy) Walzer’s work was used along with his several concepts to support the idea of a good school based on democratic citizenship, participation and protagonism of children and teenagers. Walzer’s communitarianism is advocated as having as its paradigm the concept of practical philosophy, and in this sense all other subjects explored by the author, such as pluralism, civil society, tolerance, distributive justice, community, social criticism and morality, are all based on the ideal of a realityfocused philosophy. That basic perception is therefore adopted for the formulation of twenty propositions that consolidate an idea of communitarianism as focused on education or – more appropriately – as focused on the school, aiming at offering alternatives to an ever-growing scenario of community detachment (specially urban).

This thesis attempts to reconcile Western and African philosophy with specific reference to the issues of rationality, culture and communitarianism. It also discusses the post-Enlightenment, Western philosophical concept of liberal "atomism" and the primacy of the individual and the emergence of a communitarian critique in response. This thesis intends exploring how Western notions of individuality and the communitarian response can be reconciled with contemporary African philosophy and African communitarian thought in particular. To do this, it is necessary to explore the problem of liberal individualism and how African communitarianism might reinforce the Western communitarian critique. African communitarianism has a processual understanding of personhood that underpins its conception of the Self. In contrast to this view, Western communitarianism has a relational conception of the individual Self. Thus, this thesis argues that African communitarianism has a more profound understanding of the constitution of the Self. To demonstrate these claims, this study discusses notions of rationality which inform each of the philosophical traditions. This will enable a comparative analysis of the above-mentioned philosophical traditions with the intention of uncovering the concepts that provide the platform for their reconciliation.